Hence, this is how all the Greek heros ended up in the war despite their attempts (notably by Odysseus) to renege. So, Helen’s father made all her suitors swear to stand by her husband if ever he needed them. Now, before this time, everyone wanted to marry Helen because of her beauty including Odysseus. Helen bewitched by Aphrodite, falls in love with Paris and runs off to Troy with him. (This tale definitely says something about the moral values of the time period). Oddly enough, Paris is married to to a wood nymph. Typical male, he chooses the woman who happens to be Helen, wife to Menelaus, King of Sparta. But Aphrodite offers him a wife as fair as herself. Hera offers him wealth and power if he chooses her. No god will decide who the fairest is so the goddesses chose Paris, a shepherd essentially (who’s really a prince) to choose between them. The summary is this: Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena are fighting over a Golden Apple that reads “To the Fairest”. Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff retells the story of the battle of Troy as told in The Iliad by Homer, beginning with cause of the battle (the fight between the Greek goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena over the Golden Apple) and ending with the final sack of Troy.
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